More than 96 per cent of the workers reported direct experiences of perpetrators using mobile technologies to stalk women, and about 29 per cent of workers pinpointed GPS or GPS-based applications like Apple's Find my iPhone or Find my Friends.

The apps were designed to track missing devices or connect friends, but like social media accounts, they become weapons of abuse in the wrong hands, said DVRCV researcher Dr Delanie Woodlock. “It's as if abusers can be omnipotent now,” she said.

One domestic violence worker reported: "One family had to flee the entire district as the perpetrator located them due to the victim's son becoming friends with another boy on Facebook who had his location linked to his name."

Brenda* discovered her husband was monitoring her emails through a forwarding rule he set up after hacking her account and taking control of her phone. “I don't have any privacy of my own, I can't email, I can't talk to support workers, because he knows everything,” she said.

Claire*, a Melbourne-based domestic violence worker, recently assisted a woman fleeing violence who was being stalked by her former partner through Find My Friends. “He drove to within metres of the front door of the refuge,” she said.

But less than half of the survivors of abuse interviewed by the DVRCV told somebody about it, with an even smaller proportion of those who did seek help choosing to go the police instead of friends and family.

Survivors reported feeling embarassed, afraid, confused or that they would not be believed if they sought help for technology-facilitated stalking.

Only 17 per cent of the survivors who took out violence intervention orders felt they had been effective.

"The harassment has continued, especially via online avenues for years," one woman wrote. "It seems anything online is much more difficult for the police to prove and take to court. Seems to be not taken seriously."

Ms Bentley said police stations varied dramatically in their approach to the issue. "We hear about some great work, but some police services are really struggling with this," she said.

“If there's not a specific piece of legislation that you can get them charged under you might have to use a variety of different laws, none of which quite fit."

Dr Woodlock said survivors and social workers often became investigators themselves, compiling proof to convince police and the courts the abuse was real.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said smartphone stalking could be prosecuted under the state's existing crime legislation, which made surveillance behaviour illegal. “This surveillance would extend to tracking devices,” she said. "Victoria Police always takes any stalking matter seriously, and the use of a tracking device on a mobile phone would form part of the evidence for any stalking investigation."

She said cases involving technology-facilitated abuse were generally investigated at a regional level, with the E-Crime Squad able to assist when needed.